Becoming a User

TRACC facilities, applications software, and resource allocations are available to the national transportation research community for sponsored research. TRACC welcomes discussions with potential researchers in the development of their proposals for allocations.

Submit a User Proposal

Prior to preparing your proposal for an allocation, it is recommended that you review the following information on TRACC’s potential applications, current research, and partners.

Discuss your research with the appropriate TRACC contacts, who will assist you in developing the proposal. There is no limit to the number of TRACC resources that can be included in your proposed research. However, it is important for you to discuss your proposed research with a TRACC contact associated with each resource identified in your proposal. You can find the appropriate TRACC contacts for your proposal in the staff directory, which lists contacts with brief descriptions of their backgrounds and technical responsibilities.

Proposals for allocations must fit within one or more of the following categories to be considered for review:

• The proposed project must be a large-scale, complex application of either national or regional transportation significance
• Massively parallel computing and visualization resources for the project are not readily available elsewhere
• The project should provide education, technology transfer, or training (capacity building for national, regional, state, and local transportation practioners

Proposal Review

The TRACC Allocations Committee approves proposals for allocations of the computing resources following a review of the proposal for applicability. The principal investigator identified in the proposal will be notified of the review results.

Register for TRACC Access

If your proposal is accepted, the TRACC contact relevant to your proposed work will facilitate your access to the TRACC computing resources. You will receive an e-mail message with instructions on how to apply for a user account.

For further information on registration, contact the TRACC Service Desk (telephone: 630-578-4250)

Visit TRACC

In most cases, TRACC HPC users may not need to visit the TRACC facilities at the DuPage National Technology Park. However, if you do wish to visit and meet with the technical staff, please see the visitor information for registration, directions, and maps.

Progress Reporting

Each TRACC user or collaborator is obligated to submit a short annual report (1-2 pages) about project accomplishments at the end of the year.

Acknowledgment of TRACC support must appear in a publication of any material, whether copyrighted or not, based on or developed with TRACC funding allocations and resources.

This work was partially supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Transportation Research and Analysis Computing Center at Argonne National Laboratory.

Project Extension or Renewal

All project allocations expire annually on September 30. Unused allocations do not carry over.